South Australian doctor allegedly lured pharmacist with flowers before knife attack

An Adelaide doctor has gone on trial in the Supreme Court accused of trying to kill a pharmacist who reported him to the health watchdog for over-prescribing painkillers to patients.

Key points:

SA doctor is accused of using fishing knife to stab a pharmacist last year

The pharmacist had previously reported the doctor to the health watchdog

Doctor told court he only planned to confront the pharmacist and didn't want to take the knife out

Brian Holder, 69, pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Port Lincoln pharmacist Kelly Akehurst on October 10, 2017.

Prosecutors say he went to the Terry White Pharmacy where Mrs Akehurst worked, lured the 28-year-old out from behind the counter with a bunch of flowers and then tried to stab her with a 15-centimetre fishing knife.

At the time, Mr Holder was a general practitioner at the Reynella Medical Centre in Morphett Vale, south of Adelaide.

In May 2017, Mrs Akehurst reported Mr Holder to the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) after filling multiple identical prescriptions he had authorised for large amounts of medications containing benzodiazepines and codeine.

AHPRA investigated the claims and placed limitations on Mr Holder's ability to prescribe those medications, which came into effect from October 6.

He said Mr Holder walked into the chemist with a bunch of carnations and a 15cm fishing knife in his suit jacket pocket.

"He attended at the dispensary counter at the rear of the store and asked for the complainant by name and then waited for her, away from the counter, in an open space, back near the entrance," he said.

After being told by a colleague that there was a delivery of flowers for her waiting at the front of the store, Mrs Akehurst approached Mr Holder.

The court was told Mr Holder said something along the lines of "I've got some flowers for you", to which Mrs Akehurst replied, "that's nice, I never get flowers".

"But instead of giving her the flowers, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the fishing knife, effectively from behind the bouquet … and said something along the lines of 'this is for you'," Mr Hill said.

"He held the knife up with the blade protruding from the base of his fist, the pointed-end pointed at Mrs Akehurst and he stepped towards her, stabbing at her chest very much in the direction of her heart, we say."

Prosecution says 'he intended to kill'

The court heard the victim sustained deep lacerations to her arm, hand and thumb while defending herself in the struggle that ensued.

She screamed for help before managing to break free and run to the front entrance, while Mr Holder fled to the carpark and drove away.

The court heard Mr Holder tried to kill himself in his hotel room and was discovered by Special Tasks and Rescue officers at about 9:00pm.

"The prosecution allege that he intended to kill Mrs Akehurst and he intended it to be one of the very last things that he did," Mr Hill said.

The court heard in the lead-up to the alleged attack, Mr Holder asked staff at the hotel reception for scissors to open the packaging for the knife.

When a comment was made about the size of the knife, Mr Holder allegedly said, "It's not like I'm going to stab anyone with it".

"On the Crown's case, it's an indication of what indeed was at the very front of his mind," Mr Hill said.

The prosecution did not accept Mr Holder's guilty plea to the lesser charge of attempted aggravated assault causing serious harm with intent, so the trial is focused around whether he had intent to kill Mrs Akehurst.

'I vaguely remember stabbing her'

In his evidence to the court, Mr Holder said he just planned to confront the pharmacist and had no recollection of taking the knife out of his pocket.

"I thought that if the confrontation went badly I might be able to use the knife, if there was a kerfuffle or I wanted to get away from the area I may be able to wave the knife around and get away," he said.

"I think I vaguely remember stabbing her, I had no idea whether I actually made contact."

He said while he was waiting for Mrs Akehurst he noticed the security camera above him.

"I had no intent at that stage to use the knife or physically harm her and I certainly wouldn't have done it right under the CCTV," he said.